UPMC Passavant is bringing more of the trusted expertise of UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital closer to home for communities north of Pittsburgh. A pediatric emergency program launched in summer 2021 links UPMC Children’s pediatric emergency medicine specialists with the emergency departments (EDs) at UPMC Passavant–McCandless and UPMC Passavant–Cranberry.
UPMC Passavant was the first hospital in western Pennsylvania to launch this affiliation. “Our board-certified pediatric emergency medicine specialists are on call 24/7. We are here to collaborate in real time with UPMC Passavant’s emergency doctors and families,” says pediatric emergency medicine specialist Stephen Janofsky, MD, director of outreach for pediatric emergency care at UPMC Children’s. “We can offer advice on a complex or unusual condition or provide an expert second opinion for infants, children, and adolescents up to age 18.”
An added benefit: before families leave the hospital, they can schedule any necessary follow-up appointments, including a new or return visit with any pediatric specialist at UPMC Children’s, another Children’s location, or a video visit. Betsy Tedesco, DNP, leads UPMC Passavant’s emergency services. She’s also a mom. “What could be more reassuring for parents? UPMC Children’s emergency medicine specialists bringing extra expertise to our care,” she says. “We’re very excited to offer this added level of service to our families. It supports our efforts to provide world-class care for our pediatric patients.”
“The program also includes educational and consulting services,” adds Dr. Tedesco. “Our ED team always looks for ways to deliver quality specialty care and an excellent patient experience. With this new partnership, we’ll regularly evaluate what we do with the added insight and support of specialists from UPMC Children’s.”
Molly Gibson, RN, is an outreach nurse coordinator for Children’s ED affiliation program. She says ED nurses at UPMC Passavant can also become certified in pediatric emergency nursing. “We’ll help nurses take advantage of this national certification through our review course, offered several times a year.”
The pediatric emergency department affiliation program is just one way UPMC delivers world-class pediatric care closer to home. Families in Pittsburgh’s northern communities also have access to a wide range of services that include:
- Children’s North in Wexford — outpatient medical and surgical care, plus imaging and lab diagnostics.
- Children’s Pine Center in Wexford — outpatient services from primary care and dermatology to child and family counseling, including advanced specialty centers like UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital’s behavioral health services.
- UPMC Children’s Community Pediatrics — more than 50 regional practices offer well and sick care visits, plus a variety of specialty services.
- UPMC Children’s Express Care (Wexford and Cranberry Township at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex) — walk-in, after-hours, or video visit care on evenings and weekends for minor injuries and illnesses by board-certified pediatricians.
More Options for Specialized Care for Women in the North Hills
UPMC Magee-Womens Specialty Services at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry Township
For more than 110 years, women in western Pennsylvania have relied on UPMC Magee for the best practices in care for themselves and their unborn babies. “We know that most people want their health care delivered as close to home as possible. The northern communities are no exception,” says Richard Beigi, MD, president of UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital. “That’s especially true when you’re preparing to have a baby or dealing with a serious health problem like a female cancer. It’s why we’re deeply committed to bringing Magee surgical, gynecological, and obstetrics (ob-gyn) services closer to women where they live.”
These expanded ob-gyn resources go far beyond annual checkups and preventive care. Women also can access diagnostics and testing, state-of-the-art surgery, and advanced treatments closer to home than ever. “Our experts from Magee are coming right to the north to deliver care,” he says. That’s especially good news for patients who are expecting, or hope to be. “Most, if not all, of a new mother’s obstetrical imaging and prenatal/postnatal care can take place in our northern locations,” says Dr. Beigi. And women with complicated or high-risk pregnancies no longer need to travel into the city to meet with Magee maternal fetal medicine specialists.
“Of course, when it’s time to deliver or if a mom or baby needs advanced care, patients have a seamless transition to care at UPMC Magee-Womens Hospital in Oakland,” he adds.
In 2020, UPMC Magee-Womens Specialty Services opened a 12,000-square-foot women’s center at the UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex in Cranberry. This year, mammography services at UPMC Passavant–Cranberry also transferred to UPMC Lemieux. “We’ve invested in new resources and state-of-the-art equipment at the women’s center,” says Dr. Beigi. “Our goal is to provide not only convenient access to basic care, but expert specialized care for women at every stage of life.”
Magee-Womens Specialty Services has also expanded at UPMC Passavant–McCandless. In July, it unveiled a new UPMC Magee-Womens Imaging location offering diagnostic mammograms, sonograms, and DEXA scans that measure bone density. Other specialized services for women at UPMC Passavant–McCandless include:
- Gynecologic cancer treatment (chemotherapy and radiation) —chemotherapy is also offered at UPMC Passavant–Cranberry.
- Minimally invasive and robotic gynecologic and oncology surgery.
- Urogynecology.
Units on the fifth and sixth floors offer special care and private rooms to women after gynecologic or oncology surgery. “Every day, these and other initiatives prove our commitment to bringing the best of UPMC’s care to northern residents,” says UPMC Passavant President Susan Hoolahan, RN, MSN.
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Editor's Note: This article was originally published on , and was last reviewed on .